Dennis Smith

Biography

Dennis Edward Smith (September 9, 1940 – January 21, 2022) was an American firefighter and author. He was the author of 16 books, the most notable of which is the memoir Report from Engine Co. 82, a chronicle of his career as a firefighter with the New York City Fire Department in a South Bronx firehouse from the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Smith served for 18 years as a New York City firefighter, from 1963 to 1981, and was a well-known advocate for firefighters in the United States. Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970 he wrote a letter to the editor of the NY Times Book Review commenting on a piece about W.B. Yeats that had been written by Joyce Carol Oates (on Sept 7 1969). With a signature indicating he was a NYC fireman his letter caught notice by quite a few readers and The New Yorker then published an article about him in The Talk of the Town column (Susan Sheehan August 22, 1970.). After 9/11, he chronicled the 57 days he spent in rescue and recovery operations at the World Trade Center collapse in a bestselling book, Report from Ground Zero. He died from complications of COVID-19 at a hospital in Venice, Florida, on January 21, 2022, at age 81.

Bio from Wikipedia